Seal My Fate
Crossing Shipwreck Cove can’t be as perilous as it sounds… can it? Cast * Sam Yao * Tom De Luca Plot First Hulk You’re running with Sam to meet Tom on a small island in the middle of Shipwreck Cove. From there, you’ll be able to sneak aboard an autonomous boat which will take you to Dearg Island. As you begin your run across the shipwrecks, Sam fills you in on Janine’s condition and reminisces about past missions with just the two of you. Crack Crack You move across the shipwrecks. Sam ponders your place in history. Perhaps you aren’t the builders of the future, but the people laying the foundations for future builders. He thinks that’s a pretty good place to be. The hulk you’re on begins to creak ominously. Black Tie You run through a derelict cruise ship, and Sam ponders the tantalising cliff hanger at the end of the Edda of the Wakened Warriors. It transpires that the dining room on the ship is full of zombies and you flee. One More Push You leap from the cruise ship and begin the final stretch of your run - over seaweed-covered rocks. Sam notes that zombie sightings have been increasing even though you destroyed all of Jones’ zombie attracting devices, and reminisces about Maxine and Sara. SEALS! You stumble across a pod of elephant seals, who quickly tear apart many of the zombies chasing you. The seals and the remaining zombies pursue you as you try to make your escape. Automated Boat Tom rescues you from the pack of zoms and seals, using rubber bullets. You’re right where you need to be in order to board one of the autonomous boats and make your way to Dearg Island. S08E08 // Rofflenet Discussion regarding this mission can be found on Rofflenet Transcript pours, boat engine rumbles SAM YAO: shivers It’s been a long time since it’s been just me and you, hasn’t it, Five? It’s nice. Well, I mean, it’s not nice. It’s raining buckets. But now and then, I like having you to myself. laughs At least it’s not another storm today. So this is Shipwreck Cove. Pretty amazing, isn’t it? The ships rusting away, half sticking out of the water. They must have been running aground on the rocks here for years. Look, look, there’s one over there that looks like something out of Captain Hornblower. Or you know, Pugwash. Tom was right. If we can make our way across them, we should be able to get to the small island unobserved. Although it doesn’t look like it’s going to be easy. But you’ll give me a hand if I need it, won’t you, Five? Yeah, of course you will. You haven’t let me down yet. Yeah, okay, we’re getting a bit close to the shoals]. You’d better cut the engine. Tom reckons you can hitch a ride from the small island on the automated boat that takes supplies from there to the scientists on Dearg. He’s getting to the rendezvous by scuba diving because… because that’s the kind of thing he does. And I think he thought that the fewer people travel together, the better. But we need to keep that radio equipment you’re carrying for me dry. And then hopefully you’ll find something that will help Janine. Did you see her this morning? sighs I mean, she’s walking again, but you can see from the way she winces that every step hurts. Paula’s analyzed her blood. She might have as little as two weeks left. But we’re going to make her better, which means we need to catch that boat. Which means we need to jump over to that first hulk and run across it fast as we can. Come on Five, let’s go! pours, waves splash, metal creaks SAM YAO: Bloody hell. This ship’s more rust than metal. Oh, we’d better get across it quick as we can before it falls apart completely. What do you think it used to be? Fishing boat, I reckon. You can still smell that kind of salty, rotten whiff. There’s so much stuff like this now, isn’t there? So decayed, you can’t even tell what it was meant to be for. You know that building in ? ? The big red brick one that used to be a school? All these cheerful colored swings and this one wall where so many kids had chucked a ball against it, you could see the dent! Anyway, just before it all went pear-shaped with Sage, I sent Runner Fifteen on a mission down that way. And the school’s just… crumbling away. There are trees growing up through the courtyard, and the wall with the dent’s fallen down. In 10, 20 years, you won’t know there used to be a building there at all. I don’t know. Stupid. With Janine so ill, and after… after Ellie, I keep thinking about it. What we leave behind when we’re gone. I mean, there’s Sara, and that’s amazing. But I want to make a difference. Everything’s decaying away, and then there’s Abel. And I really feel like we’re building something. Or maybe just laying the foundations for other people to build it. Well, that’s good, isn’t it? Nothing lasts long without good foundations. But I don’t think we’ll be able to get any of it done without Janine. laughs She’d raise an eyebrow and look all schoolmarmish if she heard this. But I think she’s the heart of us. So we have to save her. We just have to. creaks Crap. I think I jinxed it with all that talk about decay. The hull’s cracking, can you see? We need to get off here, make for the next ship along. Run! creaks, water splashes SAM YAO: Oh wow, look at that, Five! We only just made it across in time! I’ve never seen a ship just - just fall apart before! At least this one’s less rusty. Huge, too. And it’s the last one before we get to land. Yeah, I can see the shoreline up ahead. And – oh my God, are those seals? They are, look! Lots of lovely fluffy seals with big sad eyes! Well, not that we can see the eyes from this distance. We’ve still got quite a lot of deck to cross. I think this was a cruise ship. See? Over there, Five. What used to be the swimming pool. Full of algae and frogs now, but the deck chairs are only a little bit rotten. Can’t have been wrecked that long ago. What was a cruise ship with a swimming pool doing north of Scotland? Do you think it came here during the apocalypse? Trying to find somewhere safe from the zoms? laughs I remember there were all sorts of stories flying around then. How there were no zoms at all on Hawaii, or how if you played a zom a recording of its own voice, it would turn back into a person. We were desperate to believe what was happening wouldn’t be forever. Maybe that’s the sort of thing that got stuck in Jones’ head. He thinks that if he’s the king of the rocks, then everyone will like him again and he can go back to being a happy kid. Do you think it was the Edda that did that to him? Like, he read it and something in it sent him over the edge? I mean… well, you’d have to be an expert in Old Norse to read the original. On the other hand, he is very single-minded. Did you ever read it? It does break off at that very tantalizing place. voice “When that the circles shall grow upon the bay of five arches - ” to usual voice pitch They reckon that might be a reference to ?Bay near Exmoor, actually. The Far Hebrideans were big traders and they might have seen it. Anyway, yeah. voice “When that the circles shall grow upon the bay of five arches, then the day is come and the only road to stop its progress is to - !” to usual voice pitch and then it breaks off. Well, that’s where someone nicked the pages from the only surviving version before anyone had thought to make a good copy of it. Cliffhanger, eh? Like Netflix for the post-apocalypse age. What do you reckon? Oh crap. See up ahead, Five? A life boat’s fallen down and blocked the deck. Uh, yeah, we’ll have to try and find a way below. Um, how about this door that says crew entry only? creaks open Oh wow. That’s a lot of tartan. Almost enough to cover up the bloodstains. It’s creepy, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s the places that are meant to be fun that are the worst. All the gold trim, and the pinball machines. And look, over there. A ball pit for the kids. And all totally empty. growl Can you tell where that growl came from, Five? Was it ahead or behind? How many zoms do you think are down here? No, doesn’t matter. We have to keep moving forward. We have to get to that island before the boat leaves. Look, here’s a schematic on the wall. If we go through those double doors, we’ll reach the dining room – opens, zombies moan Oh crap! Crap, crap! Someone must have got infected during dinner. I’ve never seen so many zoms in black tie! Look, there’s a door on the far end that leads back out onto the deck. If we run really, really fast, we might make it before they catch us. Let’s go. pours, zombies moan, water splashes SAM YAO: Well, I said dry land. More like razor-sharp seaweed-covered rocks. And uh, oh yeah. The zoms are still coming. The rocks are actually going through their feet. Oh, it seems to be giving them a better grip! You know, I was having a chat with Morag Brown, the baker, the other day. I think she’s the sort of me for these islands. She knows everyone. Everyone knows her. She’s always telling everyone’s business. Not that I’d tell anyone’s business. Anyway, sorry. What I meant to say was Morag says Chief Macallan’s been keeping a tally of zombie sightings. They’re still going up even though Jones doesn’t have any way to make new attractors. Maybe you and Tom missed a few components. Or he’s worked out some other way to do it. sighs You know, Five, I really do try to see the best in everyone, but it’s hard with Jones. I mean like, either he started out killing the Laird’s brother here, or he didn’t. Morag reckons the brother might have just slipped and fallen, and Jones was so weird, everyone blamed it on him. But either way, he has kind of leaned into that murder persona. I really thought we were going to be here for a few days, you know. Find Jones, cure Janine, get the Edda, eat some porridge, go home. And it’s not like it’s not pretty here. I’m starting to think we’re going to be here for ages. But I miss my home. I don’t think I’ve ever gone this long without seeing Maxie and Sara. It’s lovely talking to them, but it’s not the same. And I didn’t like what Maxie said in her last message. They think someone might have got infected by the red fungus on the beaches. Like, not from a zombie bite. Turned zom from touching the fungus with a cut on their hand. It is new and weird and I don’t like it and I want to be with my family! Oh God, those zoms are fast. Still, we’re nearly at the beach now. Just one more push. Come on! pours, zombies moan, seals honk SAM YAO: Oh, we made it! Actual proper dry land. Also, seals! laughs Um… have they always been this big? Oh yeah, of course. They’re elephant seals. Zoe told me about them once. It’s amazing how much one woman can talk about animals. She said they can grow up to 20 feet long and weigh 8000 pounds! The zoms are giving them a wide berth. Bloody hell, the seals are actually heading towards the zoms. Do you think they want to make friends with them? splatter Oh my God. They’re - the seals are just tearing those zoms to shreds. That seal over there headbutted one and it burst like a ripe melon! Go seals! laughs I don’t believe it. They’ve wiped out every single zom that came ashore! The beach is basically just zom sushi! Those seals are amazing! They’re so strong, they’re – oh crap. They’re all looking at us. Um, why didn’t Zoe told me they could move that fast? Oh. We need to get away from them, Five. And from the zoms that are still on the rocks. Come on, run! pours, seals honk SAM YAO: We made it! I mean, we’re still being chased by huge angry seals and slightly smaller hungry zoms, but they’re all behind us. Although they don’t seem to be slowing down much. TOM DE LUCA: Over here! Lead them towards me! SAM YAO: Oh, thank goodness! It’s Tom on the rock up ahead. He’ll know what to do. I don’t know what you and Tom are going to find on Dearg Island. So far, most of the scientists we’ve met have been either power-mad or homicidal or whatever the hell Moonchild was. But they can’t be as dangerous as Jones. It’s worrying how quiet he’s been recently, right? He’s plotting something, and we all know it’s coming. And until we figure out what it is, there’s nothing we can do to stop it. sighs I hate that feeling. gunshots Oh my God, Tom’s shooting the seals. Tom! Stop shooting the cuddly animals! TOM DE LUCA: Rubber bullets, Sam! SAM YAO: Oh. Oh, oh, right, yeah. You’ve scared the seals off. Oh, and now they’ve turned back on the zoms. They’re ripping into them with their - ! Ugh. Actually, I don’t think I want to watch any longer. TOM DE LUCA: You’ve arrived just in time. I can see the automated boat through my binoculars heading towards shore. Sam, if you set up shop there, you’ll be close enough to remain in radio contact with us through the mission. Everything else is down to us. Are you ready to head off, Five? My sister’s life could depend on the success of this mission! Codex Letter ALRIGHT FIVE, We have survived: Helicopter crashes, food shortages, brainwashing, mad scientists, shady government conspiracies, train collisions, cults, fires, floods, crazed A.I.’s, BETRAYAL, and the literal. ZOMBIE. APOCALYPSE. But I can say, WITHOUT A DOUBT, that being chased by HOMICIDAL ELEPHANT SEALS, was definitely in my top three most bizarre and terrifying encounters I have had IN MY LIFE. Did you know they could do that? Why didn’t Zoe tell us they could do that? Why did David Attenborough never warn us?! I think I need a cuppa or five to calm my nerves, if you fancied joining me later. Love, Sam Category:Mission Category:Season Eight Category:Letters